Follow the author of this article

Follow the topics within this article

The world's natural environment is facing its greatest ever threat, the veteran broadcaster Sir David Attenborough warned MPs and peers last night as he backed a new initiative to save life on earth.

The BBC naturalist was speaking as Prince Albert II of Monaco signed a new deal with Cambridge University academics to work with wildlife charities and other groups around the world to conserve the natural habitat.

Sir David, whose series Planet Earth II has been winning huge audiences on Sunday nights on BBC One, said: “There has never been a time in history when the natural environment has been under greater threat than it is now and, therefore, the need for new ideas and innovation to combat the destruction of nature upon which we all depend for the future [has never been greater].”

The naturalist praised a new memorandum of understanding between Prince Albert’s foundation and the Cambridge Conservation Initiative which he said would find new ways to “break down silos and foster collaborations” between businesses and students to protect the Earth’s biodiversity.

He said: “Conservation used to be about protecting certain species or specific places but we now know that there is an entire way of life that is at hazard.”

Sir David said there was great need for new ideas and innovation to combat nature's destructionCredit:
David Parry/David Parry

The initiative - which was signed in Parliament on Wednesday evening - brings together nine conservation organisation working closely with Cambridge University and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.

It would create a world “in which all life on Earth can continue to survive and thrive”, Sir David said.

Speaking at the same meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Polar Regions, Prince Albert said: “The protection of biodiversity and, therefore, of endangered species is an issue to which I attach a great deal of importance.

“It is together that we will be able to save our biodiversity. This is a principle of effectiveness. But it is also a principle of humility; none of us can act alone.”

Prince Albert, the only head of state alive today to have visited the North and South Pole, said he was also funding a new project to pull together in one place all existing research on the effects of climate change.

Princess Charlene and Prince Albert II on National Day in Monaco last month Credit:
NIVIERE/SIPA/REX/Shutterstock/NIVIERE/SIPA/REX/Shutterstock

He pointed to new research which found that the temperature in the Antarctic last month “exceeded by 15C to 20C the average over the period 1958 to 2012”.

Speaking to an audience of 100 MPs, peers and academics, he said: “The future of these regions is indeed a matter of unprecedented urgency.”

A solution lay in tackling man’s “hubris and a tendency to subjugate nature” which has led “our society to follow a path of unsustainable development”.

Prince Albert called for more “political and logistical” co-operation between countries with research stations in the Antarctic so that knowledge and ideas could be shared.

Prince Albert was marking the 25th anniversary of the 1991 Madrid Protocol which designated the continent as a “natural reserve, devoted to peace and science”.

He called for marine protection areas to be expanded to protect ocean life.

The call was backed by Ben Fogle, the television presenter, who told the meeting that the UK should work to secure a network of the marine protection areas around Antarctica.